#anyways as i was saying... i need this lore

[cut-it-out29]

been a bit since last I've heard of Nightmare, any fun lore to share?

Why yesss there is :D Not anything too out of nowhere but some smaller things

“Smaller” I say with probably around 400 words.. uhm.. sorry..

That super fun little shape in his skull? Heh.. so that is a “religious” symbol representing purity and cleansing within the village. I think you can pretty much guess what happened there, but I’ll expand more on that in the fic!! The first chapter actually shows the full Apple incident.. it’s written but I want to get the first 3 done before anything…

(Ik it’s been months but I’ve been busy and am really picky with my writing.. unfortunately..)

Fun facts and tidbits about Nightmare! (Not lore heavy but fun)

- He’s actually pretty clumsy.. especially with his tendrils! He has very poor control of them and often breaks things (and even occasionally hurts people on accident but that’s rare)

- Totally mot lore but FADT!NM x FADT!Killer actually has their “own” ship name.. I tend to refer to them as NewMoon. I also use this for Swan x Killer because they have similar dynamics and FADT!NM is definitely a little inspired by Swan. (Thanks .randomcat that name :3)

- He actually has pretty frequent panic attacks (side effect of the trauma :P). Whenever he needs negativity (feeling sick without it) he actually has a bit of a breakdown. Killer often makes negativity without telling Nightmare, but Nightmare gets better at asking for what he needs at some point. (NEWMOON SAVE ME- and yes they’re absolutely cannon if you couldn’t tell)

- Nightmare and Ink actually know each other. Well. moving on!!

- Nightmare’s memory from when he was younger is.. blurry.. he also sometimes get really bad migraines- all this is a sideffect from his head injury.

ANYWAY TIME FOR A BIG RANT!!! :D

I’ve mentioned it before but Narcolepsy (With Cataplexy) , his cataplexy is pretty mild and mainly triggered when he experiences stronger emotions- more often with positive but it can happen with any. It shows up with smaller things like his finer motor function like: his hands being weak, his eyes drooping a bit, semi-slurred speech (rarely noticed by other people cause his southern accent making it sound like an exaggerated“southern drawl”)

Ah, building onto this- his Narcolepsy has a role in the reason why the villagers treated him so badly. He was isolated, he never interacted with the villagers because it was hard for him. He didn’t really have the energy to and being near the tree physically gave him more energy. The isolation meant Night never proved their rumors wrong, they just spiraled. FURTHERMORE his Narcolepsy was from an autoimmune disease, so he was sick often. In the villagers eyes he was cursed.. and it didn’t help the fact that his brother was the opposite being energetic, strong, healthy- constantly. It really just pushed the “Negativity is a Curse and Positivity is a blessing” idea..

[Also I personally don’t have experience with Narcolepsy so y’all feel free to correct me on anything but I put a decent amount of research into Night so I hope it’s decent representation while still being a bit more magic based]

And I’ll leave this rant on FADT!NM here but trust me there’s definitely some more to him still :)

And uh.. don’t want a good image to be entirely smothered from text so I’ll post an image to “go with this” right after :P

[theshypinkflower]

Plz, plz miss/mr/mx spare a bit of sano lore & art for the poor plz 🙏 😢 (only if you would like to ^^ also I LOVE ur art/lore/ stuff of the character♡)

I am so terribly for putting this question off for months. It's a long answer and it's kinda hard to do it in one sitting thanks to class. Please know I see all the anons in my inbox and I will get to your asks eventually <3 I'm also trying to make content outside of just my asks so please be patient (also you can just call refer to me with "Miss" dearie <3)

Sano Lore

Let me make this abundantly clear, I do NOT like how EP wrote Sano and Akira. That is the sole reason I rewrote a lot of his characters and redesigned them. Don't take it was me "fixing" his characters, more so just my take on the characters.

Anyways, a lot of this is based of the dark circus AU Gatobob did awhile back. The idea kinda started off as one of those far fetched things that I thought would never work, but after some writing it kinda just started to make a ton of sense. Needless to say, Sano and Akira grew up in a small travelling circus! Their mother was on of those "freak" attractions who ended up having a little rendezvous with their dad (who was human). After the two were born, her lover helped her escape (she really didn't want to be a mom, she probably has some regrets about ditching her kids but in her defense she was young and wanted to be free).

The two had a twin mirror act, mostly consisting of some small acrobatics (cartwheels, roundoffs, shit where you can't really break your neck like the trapeze performers), magic, knife throwing, and some contortionism. Lots of people went to see their constant in sync motion. It was kinda hard to always be in sync when Sano and Akira had clashing personalities that made cooperation a bit difficult.

One night, Akira has a rather haunting nightmare of Sano that keeps him up for a couple days (rocket to insanity reference lmao). I actually imagine Rire is in this dream and knowing Rire, it's all the reason the dream keeps him up. Why is Rire in this dream you ask? I imagine Rire sees potential in the twins (what king doesn't love a good jester?), afterall they are naga, not snake beastkin meaning they can weild magic. Eventually a knife throwing act rolls around and Akira is finding it difficult to focus on where he's aiming. Sano is spinning around and around on a wheel and Akira throws, only to aim straight for Sano's eye.

The accident, to no one's surprise, leaves Sano out of commission. His perception for his stunts thrown off now that one of his eyes is covered, and frankly it's a bit dangerous since he ends up running into things and people when doing tumbling (cheer lingo for cartwheels n shit if you didnt know). Not to mention the eyepatch ruins the mirror act. Instead of having him act, the ringmaster has Sano do some other small jobs, which is devastating to Sano since it means a significant cut to his paycheck. In turn preventing Sano from ever leaving the circus.

Sano blames a lot of what is an accident on Akira, thinking that Akira has some form of jealously against him for being the favored twin (it's no surprise Sano is the favorite). And while Akira may have SOME jealous towards his brother, he didn't mean for the incident to happen. Akira, with his naturally increased strength from being a naga, does a strong man act. He's still a bit twiggy, but he works out a bit to build muscle and strength for his act (his favorite part of the job is flirting with girls by bending horeshoes into a heart).

Sano can't go to a doctor (lack of proper health insurance, the circus has to keep travelling for business, and also because ya know fear of being outed as not human), and it's not like he needs one anyways since his eyes has managed to heal. Naga abilities n shit. Problem is, he can't see. So Sano starts getting really invested in medicine and some of the magic stuff his mom left behind. TLDR; Doesn't show up to work, captures some rando to use, harvests their eye, and performs surgery on himself. He's still a bit blind since its not his eye, but he can definitely see better. Akira finds the body and Sano manipulates him into helping him get rid of it. Akira complies since he doesn't wanna lose Sano.

Eventually, Sano devises the idea to run away from the circus. Akira doesn't want to since he's enjoying himself. People love him! But that quickly changes when he sees Sano gone from his bed. Akira naturally packs a bag and starts looking for him. Now they're on the run together. They're two broke teenagers with no education or any form of identification. And I haven't fully thought out this part yet, but Cain eventually finds these two broke teens and adopts them. Like a said before, second chance at father hood. Heres something im not so sure on yet. Either, Rire convinces Sano to become partners with him in the exchange for more training in magic, or because of Cain's involvement it's a constant fight to keep his adoptive sons safe from Rire's influence.

The rest just kinda plays out. They get their GED's with the help of their angel dad and go to college n shit. I tried keeping this as consistent as possible so let me know if you have any problems. Some of it might change later but I'll probably let you know if it does. There's probably some bits I forgot to include so ask me if you anymore questions!!!

[exoscreamsoda]

i know next season is supposed to be lestat focused (and im currently having a breakdown imagining him as a rockstar) but i would give ANYTHING to see a glimpse of how louis and armand were living in the current age before they invited their couple therapist. theres no way they figured out how to use the internet to its full potential. did rashid come over one day to set up their wifi and then ended up their little henchman. are their man snacks found on craigslist or something. armand said he didnt want daniel there so i can only imagine louis was annoying him 24/7 while he was trying to read on his kindle in peace 💀 the way louis is so adamant about getting this book made makes me think he was watching tv and one of those reality shows that covers old musicians came on and he saw lestat and started tweaking because no way did he think about old man dan's book out of no where

[hinamie]

post-graduation trip airport looks

[arsenicflame]

It's a time-honoured tradition- every time Sam comes across Izzy (and Ed) in their travels, he asks Izzy to marry him. And every time, Izzy turns him down.

At this point, Sam is asking more for the sake of it than any belief Izzy will ever say yes, a remnant of childhood dedication touched with 30 years of heartbreak and regret- though even now, a small part of him still holds out hope. Sam's promises have only got more extravagant over the years, from a job as his first mate, to a captaincy, a fleet at his command, a whole fucking island if that's what Izzy wants- but he knows it isn't though, not really. If Izzy was ever going to agree to marry him, to leave his life and go with Sam, it wouldn't be for anything Sam could offer him. Izzy never did care for flashy shows of wealth, for a ship or to be captain. The only thing that ever mattered to him was loyalty given, and loyalty shown in return. 

It all comes to a head after Stede left and came back, after Izzy lost a toe, lost his leg. Sam hasn't seen him since before things with Ed started to really slide off the rails, before stress permanently set into the lines of Izzy’s face. So, when he sees a dishevelled man with a hoof for a leg in a no-name port, he doesn't even consider the idea that he might know him. It's only when he turns towards him, and Sam catches a glance at those oh too familiar tattoos, he realises this is Izzy, his Izzy, that stands before him.

Knowing Izzy's discomfort with pity, he doesn't treat him any differently than he would in years gone by, positioning himself in Izzy's line of sight before approaching and sweeping him up into a bone crushing hug. 

“Israel-goddamn-Hands!” he exclaims, as Izzy grumbles back a begrudging “Samuel-fucking-Bellamy”, a tradition almost as old as their friendship itself. Izzy might not hug him back, but he can’t keep the corner of his mouth from twitching, just for a second.

(If Sam holds Izzy a little tighter and a little longer than usual, well. That's his business)

By the time Sam lets go, most of the crew has appeared in the town square, drawn in by the commotion. They may have given Izzy his leg and welcomed him as one of them, but still there’s an underlying tension, with nobody quite ready to set aside everything that happened before the Kraken. Seeing him cosying up to an unknown man sets everyone on edge, unsure whether to come to their first mate’s aid, or to assume that they've been betrayed once again.

When Ed sees that the yelling was Sam, his hand goes tense where it's held in Stede's. He knows the routine, has seen it more times than he can count, but as he watches them part he realises that this is the first time in a long time he's unsure of what Izzy's response will be.

Knowing that something’s different, knowing that Izzy's feeling vulnerable already, Sam doesn't go for the same flashy proposal he’s been giving for years. He doesn't promise Izzy the world, he doesn't cause a scene (or, any more of a scene than he already has, anyway). He looks at the fractured man in front of him, takes his face in his hands, and says the exact same thing to him he said when they were little more than boys. “Israel, I have to ask you. I know what you'll say, but I have to try. Come with me. Marry me and sail away with me. I'll keep you safe”

And Izzy… hesitates. He glances over at Ed, at Stede, and says to Sam “...We’re staying in port for a week. Ask me again then”

That's the moment Sam knows there is something deeply, horribly, wrong. He's not just looking at an Izzy who got seriously injured in a fight and is struggling to cope, this is something so much bigger than that- and that Ed has something to do with it. Izzy wouldn't even be considering leaving if he didn't. Whether it was negligence or something more sinister, Sam doesn't yet know, but he intends to find out.

[baeshijima]

u know what would be a cool genshin fic idea? isekai/transmigrated reader, but instead of appearing within the general timeline, you come into the genshin world 500 years prior to the start of the storyline in khaenri'ah.

honestly it could be either a little before the cataclysm, giving enough time to delve into some relationship building + explore some world building with characters like dainsleif, traveller's sibling (which would probably be lumine bc i actually do like her as abyss sibling & aether as traveller), and npcs like halfdan (still crying over him to this day ;w;) and possibly the khaenri'ahn royal guards (assuming you either join them or have a good enough relationship with them), OR it could be you appear during the crisis, completely and utterly lost as to why you were brought amidst the chaos and bloodshed as you watch everything you barely knew about this nation crumble before your very eyes.

either route will still result in reader's existential crises and constant "why am i here? just to suffer?" monologues because really, who would be fine after going through that after coming from /our/ world? and not to mention you've had to endure the next 500 years wandering with no real set path because you don't know this world— this era of teyvat or of genshin. you're merely stuck, unable to die, and forced to live a life of uncertainty with no clear direction for you to go to.

despite it all, you've at least been able to see dain during this course. while your meetings pass far too quickly for your lonesome, and his solemn demeanour is something you're yet to be accustomed to after having been with him before the fall of khaenri'ah (assuming it's the route where you appear before the cataclysm), you're glad to see a familiar face every now and then. after the messy departure with the lumine who left for the abyss order, you've come to appreciate his quiet presence more and more each time.

and then you decide it might be time to settle. you soon realise it's difficult to do so when your lifespan has become far more than that of a human's — of a mortal's — and so you find yourself becoming used to staying in one place for a few years before setting off for the next. rinse and repeat. over and over. it's come to a point where you've witnessed the nations undergo various changes each time you visit. you know change is inevitable, and yet your heart stings each time you witness it; a testament to how the world is ever-changing, yet you're stuck in place as a bystander.

one thing you're grateful for, however, are the bonds you've established amid your back-and-forth over the centuries. from archons like zhongli and venti to long-life beings such as neuvillette and the adepti to regular mortals who have showed you kindness as if one of their own... you've grown to cherish those memories, often reminiscing them when the nights get too long and surroundings too quiet. it was difficult at first, and still is, but you've become used to the inevitable change and the passing of those you once knew.

and after 500 years, you find yourself face-to-face with one you haven't seen since before you appeared in this world; the protagonist of this world, and the one you eventually join in hopes of finally finding a means to an end, aether.

little side notes/extras:

from /our/ world, you would probably know the storyline from up to around current (5.0) or maybe a little after the fontaine aq conclusion. it gives a lot to work with, but you definitely won't remember a lot of the lore after so long other than some main events, especially since most of your knowledge is pretty irrelevant for the next 500 years,,,

i think it would be cool if you had an inteyvat on your person as a little homage of khaenri'ah, which may or may not invoke some opinions from certain characters (*cough* aether immediately being reminded of lumine and having an existential crisis *cough*)

post-cataclysm you would go through a, uhm, long phase of helplessness, wondering why you were even brought to this world so far back if you couldn't even make any contributions. it does eventually morph into a resolution to do what you can to help those you come across if it's within your capabilities, but the nightmares and helplessness come back every now and then as a reminder for what you can't do :D yippee :D

honestly i'm on the fence whether you would have a vision or some other type of abilities (think on the similar lines of aether/lumine's and dain's), but i think having some type of purification mechanic would be a must in your arsenal !! would definitely lead to some moments between you and characters like dain or zhongli who suffer from the erosion as you give them a slight reprieve from what rages within and corrodes them

a little self indulgent, but i'd like to think your first /proper/ meeting with zhongli happens during a lantern rite festival, wherein you're admiring the lanterns in the sky after making a wish of your own and he comes up from behind with "they're beautiful, wouldn't you say so?" and !!

also as for love interests, as much as i would love for human/mortal characters, a part of me feels like this story would be better suited for the immortal/long-life characters as love interests?? idk i feel like considering that 500 years is, well, a long time, the bonds you would have with them compared to characters like, say, alhaitham or diluc would be way too different ?? though i would definitely still add them as love interest bc i am a sucker for so many of the human characters ;w; it would also add to the angst and hurt/comfort ahahha...

anyway thank you for reading this massive brain dump of a fic bc i absolutely would put this as a long term project, and if u made it this far then i would like to say that dain solos—

[sideblogdotjpeg]

ive been thinking about the red string superstition recently and also sol bufo always and it makes me sick how uncannily caldwell tanner has made sol to perfectly target me personally

(+ cropped versions !)

[plusultraetc]

I'm so sorry but ever since that teen Hawks page was translated on twitter I can't stop thinking about it. like. Mera treated him like a person. he was assigned to Hawks when he was already a teenager. did no one treat him like a person before then? was it such an uncommon occurrence that it seemed special when someone did? I mean, they didn't even let him have a person's name. they gave him a hero name, and to the HPSC, that was the name of a tool. of a product. they basically bought a child and treated him so coldly that Mera stood out to him because he treated him like a person. the bars of my enclosure.

[chazchaschad]

I need a movie of just worf and his targ

[waterdroid]

There's this one stream from June where Hbomberguy plays Tactical Brach Wizards and chats with Tom Francis (the game's creator, writer and developer), and the whole thing is really interesting! They talk mostly about the development of the game and some of what Tom says is already on the Developer's Comment in the special edition, BUT there are some lore things/fun details that I found interesting:

Being a wizard in this world is regarded more or less the same way as being a doctor in ours ("It's impressive, but no one's like, 'oh my god, can i get an autograph'")

Jen's mom is an arcanist

Bank's heart "canonically isn't pounding" in the missions because "she's used to life and death situations"

Banks "cares about who lives and dies"

Tom mentions that Banks doesn't have as good of a relationship with the rest of the team, and that her and Jen's relationship is "hot and cold" (LMAO)

Darrell's hiding spots were all basically John Roberts' idea (the game's sole artist)

The world of Tactical Breach Wizards (as in, the geography and literal placement of countries) intentionally does not look like the real world. "The DSR resembles the UK and America in some ways", but isn't really a 1 to 1 so "they don't map to real clichés and dynamics of the world".

[binnybinnychickendinny]

i actually think daily about the fleury/binner almost-fight bc. okay so obviously the consensus among every nhl fan ever is that they should've been allowed to fight right lmao. but what i think most people do not realize is that allegedly the fight was planned. from before the game even started. because binner and fleury have a friend or trainer in common or something? and binner knew getting into a fight was on fleury's bucket list and he was like "sure man i'll get into it with you if there's an opportunity" and then he saw fleury skating down the ice and was like "oh yeah okay let's go" and then the refs wouldn't let them. like everyone looks at it as "oh just jordan binnington being jordan binnington and fleury was going to kill him about it" and there's definitely a LITTLE of that but they also both wanted to get into a fight just for the hell of it LMAO. i totally understand why fleury didn't share that with the reporters immediately afterwards (and neither did binner, this is from an interview he did that i assume most people have not seen) but it is funny to me that the surrounding context is less "binnington being insane and fleury being the saint that he is deciding to fight him in that moment" and more "binnington being completely willing from the start to get into a homoerotic goalie fight just bc fleury wants to"

[airenyah]

i need to talk about this line here for a second, because it's an attack on me personally. but not the english translation of it, no, it's the og thai line that really gets to me. because he says:

มันโอเค​นะเว้ย ที่จะมีความรักอ่ะ [man - oh-keh - ná wóiie • thêe - jà - mee kwaam rák - àh] it - okay - [particle] • that - will - be in love - [particle]

he specifically uses the term มีความรัก which is more like "to be in love". which means rather than "it's okay to love", this line is more accurately translated as:

It's okay to be in love.

and as someone who really really really struggles with self-acceptance for my own romantic feelings for others, this distinction is really important to me. i can deal with loving others. i love my family. i love my best friend (you really don't go here but hiiii @magsimags i love youuuu 😘 (i know you're rolling your eyes reading this as usual)(i don't care)(i love you)). i love my other close friend. i love my summer camp gang. i love my friend that style reminds me of. i love each and every single one of the friends i've made in this fandom over the past few years (you know who you are 💖). i KNOW it's okay to love. i do it all the time. loudly. as evidenced by the fact that i just HAD to tag my best friend in this post to publically tell her i love her even though she really doesn't care about my thai blorbos, just because i really couldn't NOT tag her to tell her i love her. anyway. i can love. loving is fine.

but to be in love??? that's a whole different story. having (in my case romantic) feelings for someone feels like a heavy burden. it feels humiliating. i hate it. i don't want it. it stresses me out. and the person i have feelings for especially can't ever know about it. see, i will talk about my crushes/romantic feelings, but mostly to family and friends (the better they know the person i have feelings for, the harder it gets for me to admit to it), and even then the word "be in love" won't ever come out of my mouth in my native language. in english it's easier, but in my native language i just can't say it. it feels heavy. it makes me cringe. being in love is horrible.

so when style said "it's okay to be in love" specifically? that was a punch to my gut. because this is a truth i have not yet managed to accept for myself. and if the person i had feelings for specifically told me "it's okay to be in love" so firmly and so earnestly? yeah, i would crumble too

[pencilofawesomeness]

The consequence of coming up with a full backstory for Sukuna for With the Storm is that I think about it too often. Little things remind me of it and I am compelled to talk about it; alas, it'll be, like, 20 chapters until fully get into it lmao.

Inspired by this amazing graphic made by @dappermouth which is very Sukuna-core to me and I could not stop thinking about it until I drew this.

[ollylotl]

a dream of home

[loosethreadsofyoursoul]

how did tristan’s metaphor about combining two things he loves turn into an i don’t want to share speech. babygirl you were so close

[shkika]

Since my wrist is killing me and I can't draw, have my ramblings about machines having souls and being able to become husks and also just Ultrakill thoughts! Predictions about the ending if you squint??

im just having fun here

Like I'm so deranged about how machines being intelligent and actually conscious is handled in Ultrakill. The build-up, even if accidental(?), is SO SO CLEVER and gradual (as gradual as ultrakill can get). How that fits into the overall narrative and how the tragedy of this game manages to be so awesome??

First with how I love the way "Machines are living beings" idea is handled. It starts from the introduction and establishes the world so well in so few words it's so lovely. You get introduced to the machines as war weapons. They need blood to survive and humanity has been eradicated. That's all you need to know.

You start with the basic information that these machines don't want to die. Which makes sense, it doesn't have to mean they are actually alive. It makes sense a machine would look for any way possible to keep itself running to continue doing it's job.

And then immediately in the prelude you meet the Swordsmachine. A part of a specific group of machines the terminal calls "scrapheads" which modify their own bodies. While at first that does not ring as anything that's especially noteworthy. A machine trying to upgrade itself is nothing unheard of. It's to be better, stronger, more efficient.

Except that's not exactly what the Swordmachine design is about according to the game. It is mentioned to have very impressive combat prowess compared to other machines, however what it is also referred to as is "beautiful". The design is appreciated almost like a piece of art. And some of it's parts don't even wield a practical purpose, the mentioned example being it's voice box.

It is not ONLY about utility. It is also about art!!

Alright. That's interesting. Let's give an even more outrageous example. Skipping Limbo for now, there is lust where we are introduced to Mindflayers. Which?? Are so wild??? And mysterious? We don't know what and when they were made for (ALTHOUGH I VERY MUCH HAVE HEADCANONS ABOUT IT) their bodies are described as completely seperate and useless to the machine. And yet it is stated they act very lovingly and take care of their bodies. So much so in fact that they SELF-DESTRUCT if it is harmed.

V2 in the first fight is a rival to you as any other machine, however once it's arm is stripped away from V1 the confrontation becomes PERSONAL. The second fight is not simply about the lack of resources anymore. It is to reclaim what was lost. Whether that be the arm or something else. Even the very terminal entry itself calls it revenge.

And of course. With Violence it is revealed that with all of this. Machines can also make other forms of art like poetry. Which is even more interesting is that the machine which did that was first EVER machine to use blood mind you. An extremely old design, yet it could make art to express it's feelings.

Machines are capable of modifying, changing, expressing and LOVING themselves. They make art and some are frequently seen attacking you in groups! Those are clearly intelligent beings. And I mean. Duh. everyone playing Ultrakill knows that. Obviously. Like. Yeah.

So then why isn't the fact that these walking weapons probably have souls more discussed? What makes a soul? Why would machines not have them? If they can do all that people can on an emotional level.

And what happens when these machines die? What exactly is stopping them from ending up hell? Obviously heaven is unobtainable. Their very reason for existence, is to cause pain and suffering. The means through which they need to keep themselves alive is to cause suffering. It makes sense they'd all become hells beloved children. Doing what is in their nature is an art form to it.

What's even more is that the game itself supports the idea that some are souls. Surely hell cannot create them since everything made by hell are demons, which are very easy to recognize by the stone exterior.(?? unless im wrong??)

And there is no feasible way for machines like the Guttermen and Earthmovers to be their actual living counterparts. On a basic level they LACK the means to be alive. The people inside the Guttermen need to be alive in order for them to function. When opening them in-game they are just skeletons. Nobody has been supplying them with blood for a long time. Because it's hell. The game itself states that death is a luxury in hell. It does not happen easy.

Earthmovers need sunlight to power them. And the game specifically put them in an area that is clouded. There is none to be seen in violence. No they are just trapped in place, forced to shoot each other for all of eternity.

Machines, when they die… go to hell! Probably!

Some of the machines you kill, perhaps reccuring enemies go to hell (Thank u l@/little-tornad0 for the addition hehe)

When you die.

You respawn! Hell keeps you going. Hell wants torture. Hell wants bloodshed. Hell wants entertainment and you are the purest form of it.

It makes me think a lot about the potential ending of the game. About the themes. I don't think this means inherently that hell is a perfect self-sustaining organism that can go on like this forever. Gabriel says machines are destroying it and leaving nothing behind. Things are clearly going south in some way. And it'd fit the themes better if it was all going to uh.. hell lol. If it was all going to collapse. From the main theme of the game literally being "The fire is gone" to the name of the last chapter literally being named "Godfist suicide"

Also for what it's worth the Mirage secret is awesome meta-commentary on the idea that everything will die. Everything is destined to end. It is up to you how your each that end.

I think this is what Ultrakill will kind of be about at the end maybe. Gabriel will die out with a bang doing what he wants.

V1 itself is clearly NOT killing efficiently to survive, but for fun. Before it all ends. It's going out with a bang.

And with no new humans or machines that can enter hell in the long run. Perhaps it's very being too will decide it wants to go out with a bang.

In short. uh machines have souls. everything will die but not in a sad way. but in a very cool awesome way. thats pr awesomesauce